How Hinata Helped Gaara
by iWrite4Gaara
Summary: chapter 5, yes, 5 up! I'll update more after my cousin leaves on Friday. New story also possibility in future. Hinata tries to help Gaara overcome his darker side, and something is blooming between the two of them.
1. Chapter 1

Hinata looked at Gaara as he watched the Chunnin exams happening below. He seemed so sad, so distant… And yet he pulled at her heart. He seemed to have a few scratches from the battle with Lee. She approached him, one of her salves in hand.

"Gaara-kun," Hinata said, bowing. "I brought you a salve for your scratches."

He looked at her dismissively, then turned away. Yet she saw something in his blue-ish eyes soften, just for a moment. "I'm alright," he replied.

"Please," said Hinata. "Take it."

"I'll take it, Hinata," Temari said. "I'll give it to him later." Temari smiled knowingly at Hinata, and she felt a little better as she returned to Kiba and Shino, her face flushed.

Gaara had been watching the shy girl trying to hard to please everyone else. He'd been touched by her attempt to help him, but knew only of the rejection of people past. Yet he'd almost, almost smiled as she blushed and walked back to her own team.

That night, after being eliminated from the exams, from her window Hinata saw Gaara all alone on the rooftop. She'd heard about him as a bloodthirsty person, dark and evil, but she knew there was a light flickering in his soul. She'd risk it, she figured, risk Gaara's temper.

She leapt onto his rooftop and sat next to him.

"What do you want?" asked Gaara.

"I- I figured you might be lonely, an-and might want someone to talk to," Hinata stammered.

"I've lived all my life lonely. I like it."

"Oh, oh, I've lived my life fairly lonely. My cousin Neji refuses to awknowledge I exist, and my, my father thinks I'm inferior to my sister. But when I-I became a ninja and then I got Kiba and Shino and Naruto as friends! Are Temari and Kankuro your friends, too?"

"They're my older siblings."

"That's cool," Hinata told him.

She sat next to him in silence. After a while she fell asleep, and Gaara watched her breathe up and down, and for once he felt at peace. What was the feeling that was taking over him as he watched her, the impeccable attraction?

note this fanfiction takes place the tiem of the chunnin exams

The next day, as Gaara waited for his turn to fight in the exams, he looked into the crowds. There she was, Hinata Hyuuga, looking at him and… smiling?

He thought about his past, where only one person had smiled for him before. A warmth seeped through him, and he gave a slight grin of happiness.

"Gaara? Are you OK? For a second I almost thought you'd smiled!" Kankuro said, bursting his bubble.

"Nothing. You're next. Good luck."

Kankuro looked at him, taken aback. Gaara… had just wished him good luck! He shook his head and called out, "I forfeit."

I'll update it when I have more time! I hope u like it… this is more serious than my other story.


	2. Chapter 2

Hiei-and-Shino- thank you for reviewing! I'm glad u like it! don't worry, I update fast, I have lots of free time.

disclaimer I do not own naruto in any way!

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The war between Konoha and the sand began, and so did the battle between Kakashi's team and Gaara. He fought blindly, Gaara, yet as he lay there wounded, touched by the determined, yellow-headed Naruto, something clicked.

Naruto- Hinata's friend, whom she'd spoken of so admiringly. _Hinata_. His memory of her came back, the girl who'd been nice to him…

Naruto edged closer, crawling on his chin. "NO!" Gaara cried, panicked. "Get away from me!" He screamed. Temari and Kankuro came to his rescue and whisked him out of danger, and as they were running away, he realized what a fool he had been.

"Temari, Kankuro?"

"Yes, Gaara?" asked Temari, cautiously.

"I, I'm sorry."

Temari and Kankuro looked at each other, taken aback by their brother's changed personality, then went back to taking him back to the village.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hinata heard of Gaara and Naruto's battle from, well, Naruto. She felt an anger brewing as he described the battle with himself obviously superior. But she was happy when she heard of Naruto's admiration of him. When Naruto mentioned how he felt he had many things in common with Gaara, the rejection, and the pain, she felt a longing for the secluded boy with the blue eyes and the red hair.

The next time she saw him was when he, Temari, and Kankuro came to establish connections with Konoha. He was busy, but she unconsciously found herself following him as he went shopping for some fruit to eat. He'd stopped in front Ichiruka's ramen place when he noticed her.

"Hi," he said, in a new voice that had, just a little bit lost, a bit of it's previous lack of emotion. "Is the food hear as good as Naruto says it is?"

She blushed and gave a little bow. "It is very good!" she said, smiling. "It's great to see you, Gaara-kun!"

No one had ever been to kind to Gaara as this girl, Hinata.

"It- it's nice to see you, too. Why don't you join me for lunch?"

More than happily, Hinata obliged.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Temari?" Gaara asked his sister that night at their inn. "What- what are you supposed to do when you think you like a girl?

"Think?" Temari asked, confused. "The truth is, I don't know. Ask Kankuro, he's a boy."

Gaara posed the same question to Kankuro, and got the same answer, except he was directed to Temari's new boyfriend. The boy with the ponytail, named Shikamaru, had asked Temari out, and Kankuro figured that Shikamaru therefore had experience and authority.

Therefore, the next day Gaara hunted down Shikamaru at the ninja school. "Shikamaru, I need to ask you something."

"Fine," Shikamaru replied. "As long as it's not troublesome."

They arranged to meet at Shikamaru's favorite place to watch the clouds, after Shikamaru's and Gaara's work was done.

"Women," said Shikamaru, handing Gaara a drink of water, "are troublesome. What came over me when I asked your sister out, I don't know. I guess love, love is something that can't be explained. Heck, even Neji Hyuuga, legendary genius, gets confused when he's around Tenten. I've been thinking all day of what to say to you, and the fact is I don't really know. But what I do know is that if you find someone that you really love, like in my case, your sister, you can't let them go, or they'll never come back. You need to take the risk is all I can really say to you."

"But how do you know if you really are in love?"

"Well, I guess that person makes your heart leap, and you always want to be with them. You feel… different, shy around them."

Shikamaru seemed rather embarrassed by his inability to give educated answers, and Gaara left to get some Ramen again. Maybe- maybe he loved Hinata. And so maybe, maybe he'd see her there.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hinata had asked the same questions to Kiba, and on his way to Ichiruka he overheard them talking about… Hinata being in love. His heart pounded.

"Whenever I'm with him, I feel happy. My whole day perks up just seeing him, and yet when I'm with him I become so scared, so scared of making him not like me anymore…"

As he overheard her words, he became worried. Who was the person that Hinata spoke of so lovingly? Naruto? Over ramen yesterday they'd talked about so many things, and Naruto was one of them. Jealousy ran through him, but then another possibility came up, one he wanted to hang onto so dearly yet dismiss to spare him the pain if he was wrong. Maybe… maybe that person was him.

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does the story sound close to a finish? you may think so, but I say nay! hehehe…

rubs hands in glee of power to control character's lives


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you do all the people who read and/or reviewed my story! I update it almost every evening, k? hope u like it!**

**if u have advice for me, please let me know! so sorry i haven't updated in a while, tho- got banned, then my cousin from italy came over. BUT I'M BACK!**

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She could do this, she knew it. Kiba had been there to reassure her, to help her forward, and there he was, sitting at the ramen counter as he did everyday.

"Um, N-Naruto?"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Gaara had once again gone to Ichiraku, but was dismayed to find no one there. On his way back to the inn, however, he saw something there on the roof where he and Hinata had once met before the sand war. Her face was buried into her hands, coming out of a familiar pink jacket…

_Hinata!_ he realized, and he made his way to the rooftop as fast as he could.

Silently, Gaara made his way up on top of the roof and sat down next to the crying Hinata.

"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned. Hinata had never seemed so sad before.

She looked up, startled. "Gaara-kun!" Then the tears began to fall again.

"N-Naruto-kun…"

Gaara jerked a little in surprise. So that was who she had been talking about with Kiba. The pieces came together and he realized what had happened. She had told Naruto how she felt and…

Naruto had rejected her. Anger and hope flared up at once, anger at Naruto-kun for hurting Hinata, and hope, because that meant that maybe, yes, maybe, he himself had a chance.

He looked in the distance at the faces of the past Hokages, carved into the cliff, and put his arms around Hinata to comfort her. She buried her head into his chest and continued continued to cry.

And as he felt her warmth, he felt like his heart was breaking. Hinata's heart belonged to Naruto, and he had no place in it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

After a while, the sun set and the crying stopped. Her breathing leveled, and Hinata fell asleep in Gaara's embrace. Gently, picked her up and brought her back to the Hyuuga house, where he left her with a confused Neji.

That night, his chest still felt warm where Hinata had lain, peaceful.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Gaara had a rough morning. Temari, while out with Shikamaru last night, had seen Gaara and a Hinata together on the rooftop, and he was currently undergoing interrogation from her and teasting from Kankuro.

"So is that the girl you were asking advice about? Are you two dating?"

"Gaara and Hinata, sitting in a tree-"

"No! She's just a friend and was really upset, that's all."

"Sure. K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

"Real mature, Kankuro. Real mature. How long have you two known each other?"

Sighing, Gaara got up from his chair. "Look, I'm going out to breakfast."

"With Hinata?"

Gaara was gone.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hinata was having a similiarly difficult time. Neji had not told her father, which she was more than grateful for. Unfortunately, however, he was constantly giving her, "You'd better watch it or else" looks as soon as she got up, and she knew she'd have to be very nice to Neji whenever she saw him, to keep him quiet.

Unable to take the harsh atmosphere of the house Neji was giving, she went outside to watch the clouds. She'd had a dream about clouds…

Her mind went back to last night. What had happened?

Naruto.. she remembered the exact words he'd told her-

"Hinata, you're really nice and all, but I don't want to be in a relationship with you."

And then at that moment Sakura had entered the ramen shop and Naruto had perked up. "Sakura-san!"

She'd run away…

Gaara… He had been there, holding her, comforting her. She'd fallen asleep…

Gaara was opening up. Hinata smiled, glad he'd come such a long way from the time she'd offered him her salves.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

She went to meet Kiba for tea, and she talked with him and he talked with her.

"No offense, Hinata, but I'm sort of glad he said no. Naruto is an idiot, heck, if I'd known he was the one yesterday…"

"Who did you think it was, Kiba-kun?"

Kiba gave a little blush.

"Gaara."

Hinata gave a little start, then blushed some. "He's a just really good friend. Like you, Kiba-kun."

"Oh."

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	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer I own nothing

Sorry for not updating for a while- I spilled water on my computer and so it was out of use for a while.

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For the rest of the Sand's visit, Gaara and Hinata avoided each other, which wasn't hard to do, since Gaara had his ambassador duties and Hinata her training.

Gaara went back to the Sand Village.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Naruto left.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Gaara became Kazekage.

He was so happy he'd finally shown everyone that he wasn't the freak they'd all thought he was.

_I couldn't h_ave _done it without Hinata,_ he thought, wishing he'd made upp the time and courage to say good-bye the last time he'd visited the Leaf Village.

_But I doubt she remembers me, anyways_, he added, sadly.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - --

Hinata was happy when she heard of Gaara's achievment.

_He's finally become more open, _she thought, and as she thought that a pang of regret hit her that she hadn't said good-bye the last time they'd met.

_But I doubt he even remembers me, anyways,_ she added, sadly.

- - - - - - -

When Temari embarked on another one of her ambassador missions, however, Gaara could not resist the urge to go along. "My visit will help increase communications between the Sand and Leaf villages," he told the council.

_My visit might help incre_ase _communications between Hinata and me,_ he guiltily told his heart.

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**sorry it's short, the "****a" key is short-circuited and copy-n-pasting it over n over again makes my arm tired. Plus my brain is tired, since it's almost midnight. I just felt guilty for abandoning you all, lol. I'll update soon! I promise! It'll be a long one.**


	5. Chapter 5

**668 hits!! YES! Yay me- I'm not a hopeless case. Thanks to all my readers! And special thanks to my reviewers!**

**And a super-special HI! to Helen!**

News spread quickly around the village of the Kazekage's coming to visit, and soon every store and home's porch was swept and hung with lanterns in anticipation. As Gaara's coach came down the main street, people hung their heads out every window to get a glimpse and mutter comments to one another.

Not all the talk was good, however, and Hinata felt irate when asked if it was true he had a demon inside him.

"Gaara-kun's r-really nice!" she told them, turning red.

She looked back at Gaara's coach, and almost jumped. If she didn't know better, Gaara's gaze was directed straight at her. Hinata blushed, then made her way back to the Hyuuga house.

- - - - - - - -

The people of the Leaf Village actually seemed happy to see Gaara, which surprised him. Less of the people here, he figured, had heard of the demon inside him.

Little had changed in the village since Gaara's last visit, maybe a different store every here and there. His eyes skimmed the crowd for familiar faces. Ino, Choji, Shino, Kiba, he recognized all their faces, but was unable to find the face he wanted to see most.

Then he saw her.

Her hair was beginning to grow out, and since she was without her traditional pink coat he had almost missed her, but that person chatting with the elderly storekeeper was definitely Hinata. She turned around and met his eyes.

He smiled. Traditional to her nature, she was blushing.

- - - - - - -

When a long day of formalities finally came to an end, Gaara knew where he wanted to go to dinner. Politely declining an offer to dine with Tsundae-sama, he made his way to Ichiruka Ramen.

Hinata had found herself in the same place, and had just ordered a bowl of ramen. Gaara sat down next to her.

"One bowl of pork ramen, please."

"Oh! Kazekage, sir! Of course! Consider it on the house."

Hinata had looked up, startled. "Gaara-kun! It's-it's good to see you!" she said, turning red and bowing her head.

Gaara gave her a rare smile.

"It's good to see you, too. I'm sorry we didn't get the chance to say good-bye last time."

Hinata wished she could find a way to stop her constant blushing. "S-same here."

- - - - - - - -

When the ramen bowls were empty, Gaara offered to walk Hinata home. She was torn. On one hand, she would love to spend some more time with him. On the other, however, there was Neji, who would do who-knows-what with yet another piece of blackmail.

Hinata decided to accept.

- - - - - - - -

They walked together in silence, both unsure of what to do or say. As they approached the brightly lit entrance to the Hyuuga house, however, Hinata did the unexpected- she hugged him.

Blushing violently, she then hastily bowed and rushed into the Hyuuga house.

- - - - - - -

**I'm wondering where to end it. I don't read Naruto the Manga, but watch the anime. So I don't know whether to end it, or to leave it open or what the heck to do with it…It follows the story. Ooh, I know! But I'm too lazy to type it up right now. I'll just upload this, so you don't have to wait. My cousin leaves tomorrow, I'll have more time over the weekend. Later!**

**-alex**


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